The present invention relates generally to the transmission of information over communication networks, and more particularly, to a method and system for transmitting such information more efficiently by encoding and decoding link identifiers into safe character sets associated with the information over such networks.
Communication networks, such as the Internet, have become a common medium to transmit information to users of these networks. As such, many attempts have been made to provide reliable, secure, and efficient transmission of information over the network.
Generally, the information is transmitted in the form of files that are attached to a message, such as an electronic mail message. The files are retrieved from a repository, such as a database, when requested or sent by a user. A simple transmission scheme that is used by many electronic mail systems is Base64 encoding. For this type of encoding, binary content, such as images, is encoded and attached as text to the message.
Base64 encoding has certain drawbacks. Base64 encoding only supports static content. This means that the content must be completely defined before the transmission. Additionally, Base64 encoding is expensive. This is because each intermediate system in the network, such as a server located between users of the network, requires that a storage and transmission cost be paid, even if the information is not decoded for use. Further, all of the data must be transmitted each time a version or copy of the information is requested. This substantially increases the load on the network of servers that distribute the content. As a result, the number of messages that can be transmitted and stored is reduced.
Another technique for transmitting information is to use a client-server system in the network. In this case, only the location of the information in the database is transmitted to the client, e.g., a user""s desktop computer. The location can be identified using a link identifier, such as a Universal Resource Locator (xe2x80x9cURLxe2x80x9d). When the client receives the message, the client then requests the file from the database via the server. This system provides no efficient method of providing dynamic or personalized data to the end-user because every client receives the identifier of a single server file.
More recently, arguments associated with a file of information in the network have been encoded in the link identifier. This provides a simple form of Remote Method Invocation (RMI), which is the invocation of application code on a remote machine by a client. When the server receives a request for the file identified by the link identifier, it executes application code, which decodes the arguments and optionally accesses a database of content. This means that communications to and the load on the database can be reduced. However, because certain encoders and decoders can only support a certain number of characters for a given link identifier the number and size of arguments that are specified in the link identifier are limited. This means that the details that can be used to describe the information using the characters must be abbreviated. This makes supporting complex binary content, such as an image With multiple colors and backgrounds, difficult. To support this complex content, additional configuration of the network software and hardware may be required. This can increase the expense and limit the operation of the system.
Another drawback to the above known transmission techniques and schemes is that values in the link identifier that are represented by characters, such as date and time values and the location of the file, often change. Since the encoded characters are fixed when the message or information is sent, any changes or modifications to the content can only be sent to the client by re-generating the entire content for each new request. This means that the client cannot cache the content. This causes the information to only be stored in the database or remote server, and thus causes the server and network load to increase.
In general, the present invention is directed to a system and method for transmitting information over a network. The preferred method and system encodes a link identifier, such as a URL, that is associated With a then current dynamic content of an electronic medium that is stored in a server. A redirection process is used to create a redirection message string that can be easily cached and that limits the load on the system by accessing only changed states of the information represented by the link identifier, not the entire set of information. For each new request for information by any of the participants, the redirect message string can be used to direct the participant to the server.
Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention is directed to a method for transmitting information over a network that includes receiving a link identifier associated with a file containing the information. A first command may be executed to retrieve the link identifier and the link identifier may be converted to a property set. The method may also include encoding the property set and generating a redirect message string from the property set. The file may be accessed using values from the redirect message string for each change of the link identifier.
Implementations of the invention may include one or more of the following. The information may include static or binary content. The link identifier may be transmitted to a participant using an electronic message, and the electronic message may be parsed to generate a current state of the link identifier as an image description from a message-ID in the link identifier. The electronic message may be an HTML encoded message. The property set may be encoded using ASCII-based encoding. The property string may be compressed and obscured. The property string may be mapped into a set of safe character values. An image may be generated from values contained in the redirect message string. The link identifier may be configured for use with an electronic mail or Internet protocol.
In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a method for transmitting information over a network that includes receiving a link identifier in an electronic message. The link identifier may be associated with a file containing the information. The method further includes parsing the electronic message and executing a first command to retrieve the link identifier. The link identifier may be converted to a property set, and the property set may be encoded into a safe character set. A redirect message string may be generated from the property set, and the file may be accessed using values from the redirect message string for each change of the link identifier.
In a further aspect, the present invention is directed to a network system for transmitting information among a group of participants that includes a server for generating and sending a link identifier associated with the file containing the information to a participant. The server may further include an interface responsive to a first command to retrieve the link identifier. A web application server may be used to convert the link identifier to a property set and logic in the web application server may be used to encode the property set and to generate a redirect message from the property set. An image server may be used to access the file using values from the redirect message string for each change of the link identifier.